Florida apartment gunman described as lonely, angry HIALEAH, Fla. (AP) — The gunman who went on a shooting rampage at his South Florida apartment building, killing six people, was a lonely man who spoke about having pent up anger, those who knew him said Sunday. Pedro Vargas, 42, lived on the fourth floor of a barren, concrete apartment complex in the Miami suburb of Hialeah with his elderly mother. He rarely spoke with others there, and confided to a man who worked out at the same gym that he ...

Pending sales of US homes slip from 6-year high WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes dipped in June from a six-year high in May, a sign that sales could stabilize over the next few months. The National Association of Realtors said Monday that its seasonally adjusted index for pending home sales ticked down 0.4 percent to 110.9 in June. The May reading was revised lower by a percentage point to 111.3, but it was still the highest since December 2006. Th...

Indianapolis church mourns 3 who died in bus crash INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indianapolis congregation on Sunday mourned the deaths of their youth pastor, his pregnant wife and another member who were killed when a church bus overturned with just a mile to go in a return trip from a Michigan summer camp. Saturday’s accident devastated members of Colonial Hills Baptist Church, who had been anticipating a joyful homecoming with the 37 people who were aboard the bus. Youth pastor Chad Phelps, his pr...

Pfizer sells key vaccine cheaply to poor countries TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Drugmaker Pfizer Inc. has agreed to provide hundreds of millions of doses of its lucrative vaccine against pneumonia and meningitis at a fraction of the usual price for young children in poor countries. The deal to provide 260 million shots of its Prevnar 13 vaccine for a few dollars each is Pfizer’s third agreement under an innovative program through which pharmaceutical companies, governments, health groups and charities...

Panel backs lung cancer screening for some smokers For the first time, government advisers are recommending screening for lung cancer, saying certain current and former heavy smokers should get annual scans to cut their chances of dying of the disease. If it becomes final as expected, the advice by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force would clear the way for insurers to cover CT scans, a type of X-ray, for those at greatest risk. That would be people ages 55 through 79 who smoked a pack of ...

Sales tax holiday starts SaturdayArkansas’ annual sales tax holiday is just around the corner. On Saturday and Sunday, parents getting ready for the new school year will be able to purchase school supplies, clothing and accessories without having to pay state or local sales tax. In Russellville, that amounts to a nine percent savings. All retailers are required to participate in the tax holiday. Exempt from tax are clothing and footwear priced less than $100 per item, clothin...

Heavy rains flood homes, roads in North Carolina CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A system of thunderstorms across western North Carolina stalled on Saturday and dumped about a foot of rain on the area, causing power outages and flash floods that swamped homes and washed out roads and bridges. There were 18 reports of swift-water rescues, and one minor injury, said Jim Dickerson, spokesman for Catawba County Emergency Services. He did not have details. Hickory Mayor Rudy Wright urged residents to stay...

Manslaughter charge filed in Hudson boat crash PIERMONT, N.Y. (AP) — A deadly nighttime speedboat crash on the Hudson River hurled a bride-to-be and her fiance’s best man into the water and left the groom and three others injured, including a friend charged with vehicular manslaughter on Saturday, just two weeks before the couple was to exchange their vows. Six friends were on board the boat Friday night when it struck a barge near the Tappan Zee Bridge, sending Lindsey Stewart and Mark Le...

Musician JJ Cale dies; wrote Clapton, Skynyrd hits If musicians were measured not by the number of records they sold but by the number of peers they influenced, JJ Cale would have been a towering figure in 1970s rock ‘n’ roll. His best songs like “After Midnight,” “Cocaine” and “Call Me the Breeze” were towering hits — for other artists. Eric Clapton took “After Midnight” and “Cocaine” and turned them into the kind of hard-party anthems that defined rock for a long period of time. And Lynyrd S...

San Diego mayor’s therapy plan flops with critics SAN DIEGO (AP) — Mayor Bob Filner’s announcement that he will undergo two weeks of full-time therapy defies leaders of his own political party who demanded he resign over allegations of sexual harassment. The mayor’s plans failed to appease many who called for San Diego’s first Democratic leader in 20 years to step down less than eight months into his four-year term. Seven women identified themselves as targets of Filner’s unwanted advances th...

Obama and McCain: Washington’s newest odd couple WASHINGTON (AP) — There was no conciliatory phone call, no heart-to-heart talk to soothe the tensions. No one knows exactly when President Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain went from bitter rivals in the 2008 presidential campaign and foes over health care and national security to bipartisan partners. Yet in recent months, an alignment on high-profile domestic issues — not to mention an eye on their respective legacies — has transfo...

3 dead when bus carrying teens crashes in Indiana INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A bus carrying teenagers returning to Indiana from a church camp in Michigan crashed Saturday afternoon just minutes from home, killing three people and sending 26 others to hospitals, officials said. The bus came speeding off of Interstate 465 in northern Indianapolis, about a mile from the Colonial Hills Baptist Church that passengers attended, struck a retaining wall as it rounded a curve and overturned. The campers were...

Gunman kills 6 in Fla. apartment shooting rampage HIALEAH, Fla. (AP) — A man living with his mother in a South Florida apartment complex set their unit on fire and went on a shooting rampage throughout the building, killing six people before being shot to death by police. As the eight-hour standoff unfolded, horrified residents hunkered down in their homes, at times so close to the action they could feel the gunfire or hear negotiations between the gunman and police, authorities and witnesses...

Obituaries: Madison KirkleyCAMDEN — Madison “Maddie” Kirkley became a real angel in the early morning hours of Wednesday, July 24, 2013. She will be greatly missed by her parents, Chad and Jennifer Kirkley; her twin brother and best friend, Triston; her sister, Kyndal; her biological mother, Penny Banks Dew; her brother, Dylan Dew; her grandparents, Randy and Brenda Kirkley and Camille Helms; and her great-grandfathers, F. M. Kirkley and Robert M. Banks. She is survived...

No death penalty for Snowden if convicted, US says WASHINGTON (AP) — Striving to get Edward Snowden back to America, U.S., Attorney General Eric Holder has assured the Russian government the U.S. has no plans to seek the death penalty for the former National Security Agency systems analyst. In a letter dated Tuesday, the attorney general said the criminal charges Snowden now faces in this country do not carry the death penalty and the U.S. will not seek his execution even if he is charged with...

Green paint splattered on DC’s Lincoln Memorial WASHINGTON (AP) — Someone splattered green paint on the Lincoln Memorial early Friday, but the statue of the 16th president was reopened by nightfall after the paint was washed away. The apparent vandalism was discovered around 1:30 a.m. Friday on the statue, the pedestal and the floor, U.S. Park Police said. No words, letters or symbols were visible in the paint. The marble Lincoln statute had green paint on its shin, coattail, chair and base...

Southern states gird for new fight on voter laws AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Stricter voter identification laws, redrawn political maps fortifying Republican majorities, reducing early voting: States with GOP strongholds intensified these efforts under President Barack Obama and proclaimed victory at the Supreme Court. Now the Obama administration is signaling plans to drag some of these mostly Southern states with histories of minority discrimination into rematches after the high court knocked dow...

Mysterious giant magnet attracts rock-star status GLEN ELLYN, Ill. (AP) — It skipped tolls. It had a Twitter hashtag and a GPS tracker. It even posed for photos with groupies. The 50-foot-wide, 15-ton electromagnet attracted a sensation wherever it went during its slow, delicate 3,200-mile journey from New York to suburban Chicago. The land-and-sea trip culminated when scientists threw a rock star’s welcome for the mysterious, shrink-wrapped cargo on Friday as it arrived at the Fermi National...

Manning arguments wrap up; judge to deliberate FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — Army Pfc. Bradley Manning’s fate was in the hands of a military judge Friday after nearly two months of conflicting portrayals of the soldier: a traitor who gave WikiLeaks classified secrets for worldwide attention and a young, naive intelligence analyst who wanted people to know about the atrocities of war. Judge Col. Denise Lind started deliberating on the 21 charges Manning faces, but she did not say when she would ru...

Obese inmate spared from execution dies in Ohio COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio inmate whose 450-pound weight became an issue in his death penalty case has died seven months after being granted clemency, officials said Friday. Ronald Post died Thursday morning at a prison hospital where he’d been treated on and off since 2011, a state prisons spokeswoman said. He was a week shy of his 54th birthday. Post was sentenced to death for killing Elyria motel clerk Helen Vantz on Dec. 15, 1983. His a...